Vail Daily Hits and Misses

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MISS: To forgetting how to drive in the snow. Spinouts and accidents everywhere and even a snowplow stuck on U.S. Highway 24 near Red Cliff on Sunday. It hasn’t been that long since we last had snow — days, not even weeks.

HIT: To the candidates who ran for a variety of thoroughly unsung special district board seats. To everyone who serves in these positions of public trust, too. Thank you for putting your best thinking and efforts to dry topics (sewer, water, fire protection et al) that are so crucial to our High Country civilization running so well.

HIT: To quick work fixing what we finally were able to dub the Sinkhole de Mayo on Highway 24 near Red Cliff. Certain Vail Daily reporters have rued the timing of the great washout on Interstate 70 a little east of Vail for over a decade. That hole opened on June 1, 2003. Aside from this appreciation of the construction workers who keep us all hurtling on our way, now certain editors look forward to not having to hear how cool it would have been to use the pun. This is an occupational hazard in working with people who love words. Sigh.

HIT: To SteamMaster winning a coveted Better Business Bureau award for ethical practices. SteamMaster is the first mountain business to win this one in 16 years in the region covering northern Colorado and all of Wyoming. Congratulations!

HIT: To Project Funway and the Education Foundation of Eagle County, which benefits from this fun fundraiser.

HIT: To restaurant deals that help make being a local so satisfying this time of year.

HIT: To Ski & Snowboard Club Vail being honored for what we already knew. This is the best such club in the country, and it continues to work hard to get better. That’s the key part. Keep striving.

HIT: To John O’Neill, speaking of striving, and to his devotion to his sport, the triathlon. He’s gunning for the Olympics and won’t miss the opportunity to represent the United States in Rio de Janeiro for lack of effort or commitment.

HIT: To the town and developers in Avon working on a variety of improvements timed with the 2015 Alpine World Championships. Love the faith in and commitment to the “Heart of the Valley” (whether you think the proper name for the valley is Vail or Eagle River).

MISS: To Alberto Vilar and his “gift” that keeps giving in that Madoff sort of way. He recently earned an extra year on his prison sentence for bilking financial clients to build his fortune and give what wasn’t really his to give, as it turns out. A great local performing arts center continues to carry an albatross thanks to his ego’s penchant for making sure everyone knows his name. He got the extra time for taking steps to prevent his victims from being repaid, the judge of his case ruled. Ugh!

HIT: To Vail possibly taming its bear problem with better use of bear-resistant trash can use and disposal practices. Same with other municipalities. It may be that the bears are just slower to end their naps this winter and there was a good berry crop last fall. But it seems that the humans are beginning to wise up just a bit.

HIT: To town, highway and mountain cleanup events.

MISS: To being miffed about cell phone holes in the mountains. Sure, the providers can do better. But shouldn’t the mountains be a place to untether from constant contact?

HIT: To efforts to improve the water quality of Gore Creek and the Eagle River. Whether through limiting spraying pesticides, making sure the old Eagle Mine no longer fouls the river or, yes, upgrading sanitation plants, this is easy and cost-effective enough to handle.

MISS: To “real” news such as deadly shootings in our neighborhood. Children allegedly shooting parents. Motorist exchanging gunfire with the cops. All very exciting, if somewhere else or among that endless string of mystery movies and cop shows. Gets a little too real when it happens in our neighborhood.

HIT: To the emergency service people who do in fact put their lives on the line to protect us.

HIT: To the USA Pro Cycling Challenge bringing its time trial back to Vail; it’s really the only place that really fits the bill. The excitement and crowd from Vail Village to the top of Vail Pass is unparalleled. Then again, we might be a hair biased.

HIT: To taking some quality time free of a screen, especially if you are a child. That’s screen as in TV, video game, phone, tablet, computer or some hand-held device not mentioned. We’re told a kid spends an average of 28 hours per week looking at a screen.

MISS: To the 28,000-square-foot retail marijuana growing and selling store proposed for Chambers Avenue in Eagle. A sort of PotCo, there seems to be a bit much there and it might be better suited in more welcoming communities like Aspen and Breckenridge. While a decisive majority of voters in the town and county favor legalization of marijuana, we’re not sure that’s the same as wishing for a Cannabis Cabela’s.